1. Field of the Invention:
The invention relates to apparatus for detecting objects that may pose a collision hazard to or interfere with a moving vehicle, and for providing means for redirecting the vehicle to avoid engagement with such objects.
In the instant disclosure the term "vehicle" includes any conveyance, for transporting anything including persons or load in or on any medium, including in air, on land, on sea, in water or in airless space outside the earth's atmosphere. The term "objects" includes anything, whether moving or stationary that may interfere with the vehicle if an engagement with the object is encountered. The term "object" includes solid stationary or moving objects, atmospheric conditions, such as air turbulence, precipitation, fog, smoke, or the like, that are detectable by a radiated beam of energy.
2. Description of the Related Art:
It is well known to equip a vehicle e.g. an aircraft or a ship with devices, such as radar that projects in a defined direction a pulsed scanning beam of electromagnetic energy of short wavelength that is capable of returning a detectable echo from an object being hit by the beam, and to provide means for measuring the time elapsed from the moment a pulse is sent out until it's echo returns and to compute the distance and direction to the object, based on the elapsed time and the known velocity of propagation of the pulse, and to generate a warning signal in case an object is detected which may pose a collision or other hazard.
Such prior art devices, however, have the drawback that avoidance of a collision is left to the human operator controlling the course of the vehicle, based on inputs from the radar. Devices are also known that react to a radar echo to activate, for example, an alarm or the brakes of a vehicle, such that an impending collision with an object can be avoided or mitigated.
The devices of the known art, however, have several drawbacks. For one thing, if the trajectory of the vehicle is curved and/or if the vehicle and the object each have complex curved trajectories, it is very difficult for a human operator to determine if a collision is probable and to devise a proper evasive reaction, using human judgment and intuition.
The instant invention overcomes this problem by devising apparatus for mounting on a vehicle, using relatively simple algorithms, that can determine if an impact with one or more objects is imminent and is capable of providing early warning and/or defining evasive counter action without the need for highly sophisticated computing apparatus.